s face had so
clearly reflected his fury, now his wrath was changed to smiles and he
expressed the greatest satisfaction at having encountered Ismu'llah and
heard what he had to say.

He always taught cheerfully and with gaiety, and would respond gently and
with good humor, no matter how much passionate anger might be turned
against him by the one with whom he spoke. His way of teaching was
excellent. He was truly Ismu'llah, the Name of God, not for his fame but
because he was a chosen soul.

Ismu'llah had memorized a great number of Islamic traditions and had
mastered the teachings of _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim. He became a
believer in _Sh_iraz, in the early days of the Faith, and was soon widely
known as such. And because he began to teach openly and boldly, they hung
a halter on him and led him about the streets and bazars of the city. Even
in that condition, composed and smiling, he kept on speaking to the
people. He did not yield; he was not silenced. When they freed him he left
_Sh_iraz and went to _Kh_urasan, and there, too, began to spread the
Faith, following which he traveled on, in the company of Babu'l-Bab, to
Fort Tabarsi. Here he endured intense sufferings as a member of that band
of sacrificial victims. They took him prisoner at the Fort and delivered
him over to the chiefs of Mazindaran, to lead him about and finally kill
him in a certain district of that province. When, bound with chains,
Ismu'llah was brought to the appointed place, God put it into one man's
heart to free him from prison in the middle of the night and guide him to
a place where he was safe. Throughout all these agonizing trials he
remained staunch in his faith.

Think, for example, how the enemy had completely hemmed in the Fort, and
were endlessly pouring in cannon balls from their siege guns. The
believers, among them Ismu'llah, went eighteen days without food. They
lived on the leather of their shoes. This too was soon consumed, and they
had nothing left but water. They drank a mouthful every morning, and lay
famished and exhausted in their Fort. When attacked, however, they would
instantly spring to their feet, and manifest in the face of the enemy a
magnificent courage and astonishing resistance, and drive the army back
from their walls. The hunger lasted eighteen days. It was a terrible
ordeal. To begin with, they were far from home, surrounded and cut off by
the foe; again, they were starving; and then there were the ar